Monthly Archives: April, 2014

We know SCADA is virtual swiss cheese, ready to be owned if someone can reach a device. We have preached airgaps for decades, even before we knew how bad the software was. Back then it was just, “this is so critical, it has to be separate!”

The last five years have proven how bad it is, with the rise of SCADA vulnerabilities. Sure, we can overlook the bad coding, proprietary protocols, no evidence of a SDLC, and the incredible amount of time it can take to patch. For some silly reason we put up with “forever-day bugs” because something is so critical it can’t be rebooted (forgetting how absurd that design choice is). But, what if we go a step beyond that?

An ICS-CERT 14-084-01 advisory released yesterday on vulnerabilities in Festo products is a good reminder of just how bad the problem is, and how much deeper it goes. First, the product has a backdoor in the FTP service allowing unauthenticated access (CVSSv2 9.3). This can allow a remote attacker to crash the device or execute arbitrary code. Second, the device is vulnerable due to bundling the 3S CoDeSys Runtime Toolkit which does not require authentication for admin functions (CVSSv2 10.0), and a traversal flaw that allows file manipulation leading to code execution (CVSSv2 10.0). Those two issues were reported in January of 2013, making this report as relates to Festo products over a year late.

So we have a vendor backdoor, unauthenticated administrator access, and a way to bypass authentication if it was there to gain privileges. So realistically, what type of organizations does this potentially impact? From the ICS-CERT advisory:

This product is used industrywide as a programmable logic controller with inclusion of a multiaxis controller for automated assembly and automated manufacturing. Identified customers are in solar cell manufacturing, automobile assembly, general assembly and parts control, and airframe manufacturing where tolerances are particularly critical to end product operations.

Now to dig the hole deeper. Under the “Mitigation” section, we see how serious Festo considers these vulnerabilities. Paraphrased from two lines in the advisory:

Festo has decided not to resolve these vulnerabilities, placing critical infrastructure asset owners using this product at risk … because of compatibility reasons with existing engineering tools.

The two 3S CoDeSys vulnerabilities have a fix available and just need to be integrated into the Festo products. What does “compatibility with existing engineering tools” really mean in the context of software? The ICS-CERT advisory also says:

According to the Festo product web page, other products are using newer versions of CoDeSys software and may not be vulnerable to the CoDeSys vulnerability, but this has not been evaluated by the researcher.

The researcher already spent time finding the issues, reporting them to a coordinating body, and following coordinated disclosure practices. Expecting them to also evaluate which products are not vulnerable is ridiculous. This is a case of the vendor just being lazy and irresponsible.

A company that makes vulnerable critical components that affect our infrastructure and directly impact our safety, but refuses to fix them. Why is this allowed to exist in our society?